Too Tight On The Needle

Fri, 2006-12-29 10:43 — MasonM

I am working on my first project. It's just a simple garter stitch scarf using super bulky yarn and US size 17 needles.

Whether on this project or on my practice piece (medium worsted on US size 10 needles), the loops on the needle get tight and it's hard to slide the piece along the needle or to work the right needle into the loop to make the next knit stitch..

Hi guy--Make sure you are knitting into the front of the stitch and not the back. Consistently knitting into the back twists all the stitches which makes them very tight. I quit knitting twice because my knitting was so tight. Then I realized I was going through the back and not the front.

oh heck, it's just a scarf - he can probably manage with a breath at the end of every row...

[s'truth - when a stitch gets tricky for some reason - such as the yarn threatening to split or drop, etc; or you are counting, sometimes; don't you find yourself holding your breath? I do! Usually notice it when the tunnel vision begins :)]

Bingo, I think I have been forming a lot of the stitches around the point instead of the shaft. I'm working on a losser grip and I'll try and pay more attention to where I am forming the stitches to see if that helps.

I do know that it is going very slowly because of the tightness of the loops.

It's a feedback thing; you form the stitch around the tip of the needle, which makes it tight, then when you go to knit it it's so tight you don't insert the needle far enough so you form the stitch around the tip of the needle.....

I do this sort of little "roll" of the needle as I take the stitch off, which helps make all my stitchs uniform. it isn't much, mostly just always positioning the needles to the same point relative to each other as I take the stitch off .

That pretty well describes what I was doing. I just knitted a few rows while focusing on making sure to form the stitches up on the needle body. It made a world of difference. Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

probably your just pulling things too tight (it goes along with the "beginner death grip" on the needles); how well I remember - the first scarf I did was about 1/2 the width of the second - though knit in the same yarn with the same needles in the same stitch. I loosened up on my tension - made the knitting go much faster and my hands stopped hurting.

the other most likely possibility is that you are forming the stitches around the points of the needle - they should form around the shaft, where the needle is wider.

MMario - I don't live in the 21st Century - but I sometimes play a character who does.